Beekeeping is one of the most ancient activities that the Hungarians have been practising since the era of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian basin (895 to the 10th century), along with animal husbandry and crop production.

The earliest form of apiculture is beekeeping with skeps, which was practised for thousands of years. The great advantage of the skeps was that they were cheap to produce, made from straw, mat and wicker. However, the disadvantage was that it was difficult to protect the colony and produced modest quantity of honey. Currently, this branch of apiculture is in decline and has been replaced by hive beekeeping.

The hive is one of the beekeeper’s most important but most expensive pieces of equipment. There are several types of hive, each beekeeper choosing the one that suits his needs. It makes a difference whether the beekeeper is a honey producer or a bee seller.

Each hive houses one bee family. This weighs about 20 kg in normal condition, but in summer, it can reach up to 100 kg. Bee colonies are made up of three types of members: the queen bee, the workers and the drones. Within the hive there is a mother, whose main function is reproduction, with a life expectancy of 2-3 years. Beekeepers mark the mother with a coloured spot on her back according to the year of hatching. The workers have a complex task, collecting, building the comb, cleaning, ventilating and protecting the hive from intruders. The drones are only involved in the reproduction process and not in the other work of the family.

As mentioned above, one of the tasks of bees, including workers, is to collect the pollen and nectar from which honey is made. The bee converts these ingredients into honey in its organs. To do this, it uses a special enzyme that is mixed with digestive juices in what is called the honey stomach. When they get back to the hive, the bees pour this specially mixed dilute liquid into the cells of the comb. Finally, the bees help the liquid to thicken and reduce its water content by moving their wings. There are many dangers for domestic bees, but their situation depends on the beekeeper. Problems are caused by aggressive insects such as wasps and mites, as well as various chemicals and diseases. The bees try to defend themselves, their weapon is the propolis, which cleans the air in the hive and protects against invaders and bacteria.

In the past, honey was consumed as food and played an important role in folk medicine. It has become versatile: it is used by the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry and cosmetics companies. In light of this, it is important to protect bees, and we can do a lot to do this ourselves by cutting our lawns less often and planting bee-friendly flowers such as milkweed, marigolds, sweet alyssum and oriental poppies.